Israel to Build Security Fence Along Jordan Border in Response to Iraq Crisis

Israeli border police officers stand guard during clashes with Palestinian protesters against the Jewish settlement of Ofra, in the West Bank village of Silwad, near Ramallah Reuters file photo

Israel is to build a security barrier along the country's border with Jordan which will stretch from Eilat all the way to the Golan Heights in light of the ongoing crisis in Iraq.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the border fence in a security conference speech in Tel Aviv surrounding the march of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isis) through northern Iraq and towards the Jordanian border.

Netanyahu did not elaborate on the dimensions of the border fence or the estimated time of completion.

Isis jihadists announced the establishment of a "caliphate" over the areas they now control in Iraq and Syria with its leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becoming the "caliph" and "leader for Muslims everywhere".

Netanyahu urged Israel's allies within the international community to ensure stability in Jordan as a moderate Arab state in the Middle East in the face of the Islamist threat emanating from the protracted civil war in Syria.

Commander of the Eilat Territorial Brigade General Roi Alkabetz previously said during a lecture in Tel Aviv that Israel was preparing a 500km security fence to protect Israel from "infiltration dangers".

"The Kingdom of Jordan is friendly to Israel and cooperates with us better than Egypt, but the common border with Jordan is completely unsecure," said Alkabetz.

"Millions of refugees who arrived in Jordan from Syria and Iraq could pose a clear security threat to Israel and it is likely that they include hostile elements which carry weapons and threaten the security of Israel."